Vukov Konstantin: A középkori esztergomi palota épületei (2004)

Abstract

studiolo, the smaller one to the balcony bay. The room was covered by a Romanesque vault, the vertex was much higher, than that of the backstay appearing on the wall level. The selection of this type of vault shows that there was not passable level above, it could show the character of the lower attachment, adhering to the mass of the White tower.

The floor was originally covered by red limestone flags, in the 15th century it was covered by burnt brick sheet, elevated by about 45 cm. This brick floor was taken up during the explorations in the 30s, since it had covered the Romanesque gateway footings. Unfortunately, no archeological documentation was left over about the removal, although the fillings always contain age-determining, valuable findings. Vaulting can be well reconstructed from the remains.

The studiolo

This two-vault section, Roman cross-vault, 12th century room was modernized by the Renaissance painting program in the 15th century. Of the full- length painted figures only the pictures of the four cardinal virtues were left to our age, still one can imagine the old-time luxury, which was most probably established by Gallant Johannes.

Its complete restoration ongoing in the present age revealed the work of a high quality artist, who could have learnt in the circle of Filippino Lippi. During the Turkish wars the one third of the room and the vaults were destroyed. During the excavations pieces of the belt arch, separating the fields of vault were found among the debris. The Zodiac signs were painted on the stones, thus the arch can be put in order again, making possible the exact reconstruction of the vaulting.

The chapel

The chapel also joins the private residence, it connects two side spaces, of which the southern one practically played a bridging role and was built towards the suites of the palace. Thus it can be concluded that it also had sacristy function. In the ’30s most of the works were done in the chapel, most of the reconstructions and authentic supplements was made here, which are able to completely give back for today’s spectator the feeling of the one-time interior. Several authors have dealt with the history of the chapel, it can be regarded processed.

The entertainment wing

The big halls, built for reunions, receptions represented an outstanding part of the residence type buildings of the end of the 14th, and of the 15th centuries. The sources give a report about the big hall of the Archbishop palace in Esztergom and about the connecting suspended aisle looking on the Danube and about the next door Chapel of Sibyls.

The big hall, the suspended aisle, and the Proto-Renaissance wall painted chapel composed an architectural ensemble. The three elements of this uniform block had developed along different lines, thus they were unified. These types of architectural compositions cannot be imagined without the models of big residences, French castles, German town halls, Italian saloons and of the Hungarian royal seat, in Buda. The most significant architectural achievement is the palace wing, housing the big hall.

The big hall

The remains of the late big hall can be found in the raw building of the Baroque caserne, which could be seen until the recent past. After the Turkish wars the caserne of the Austrian garrison had been settled among the Medieval ruins until 1820, this is how it got the name caserne. The Millennium Museum exhibition tries to represent something of the spatial effects of the entertainment hall - equal to its Romanesque age dimensions. Parallel with the Western wall a long, one- section palace wing was built at the end of 12th century (or at the beginning of the 13th), having a deepened level and a ground floor, and it should have had one floor, also.

Bonfini noted, that hundred tables could be placed in it! This banquet-hall composed a special wing inside the palace building. The huge, 15th century hall was built by the extension of the big hall of the old palace in a way that the building was extended by one section, on the foundations of the rock base of the Danube slope. The external view is still today impressive with the four big buttresses. The construction was most probably started by Archbishop, Dénes Szécsi. The ground floor surface could be 47x16 meter, as reconstructed from the remains. Since there was neither pillar, nor column inside, the key point of the evaluation of the hall was the method of covering.

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